Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

My teacher tells me that expression comes naturally to me but I have a problem with actually hitting every note. The sound and tone sounds like what I want in my head, but I can never get through a performance having hit every note, accuracy, in other words.

Originally posted by SantaFe_Player: Thanks, Silkyferret. I don't know what "Alfred's" is. Most of what I'm playing is Bach WTC and Beethoven sonatas, plus some Chopin polonaises (and a Brahms I'm leaning that my teacher doesn't know I'm learning yet, but I've heard it on several of my CD's and want to play it). I suppose I could enlarge these, but size is not the only issue There's an astygmatism (sp?) and two eyes that don't work together when I"m tired as well (although all my other eyes do, HAR). This has been an issue since childhood, but size is starting to come into it now! [/b]

Your past the Alfred's crud. Be very glad, Alfreds is a 3 part beginner piano course. The tunes (such as they are)are very very short and chord heavy for the left hand so there are a lot of 3/4 time sigs and oom pah pah stuff. I have serious dyslexia so I often confuse stuff. I had a piece where I learned the right hand stuff on the left hand and vice verse.........eyesight for me is not an excuse,but maybe I will use that one for a kick butt reason why i can't sightread worth a darn... My last lesson was a total waste of time and since furball is still here I havent gone to practice today either. So its pracice like crazy tomorrow and hope the nieghbors dont complain. I envy people who can play easiely. Takes me weeks to learn a simple alfreds piece

12 years of playing guitar might have helped when I started piano, just in being able to think in that spatiotemporal way of getting the fingers to where they need to be.

It takes work for me, fortunately I can be pretty compulsive, that helps with practicing. Also I can be obsessive, that helps in tailoring most of the rest of my life to learning music and also going through books and videos for ideas and guidance.

Unfortunately I also feel the pull to lead a balanced life

I have to challenge Mr.SH's idea that some people have the groove and others don't. I think anyone who's learning an instrument MUST be able to feel the groove or else they wouldn't have got into it in the first place... It may be that some are nervous, clam up and have troubles putting that groove into the open air, and that would be their particular challenge to overcome.